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A Look Inside Tesla's $5 Billion Gigafactory (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: A joint effort between Tesla and Panasonic, the Gigafactory is a $5 billion project that will create the world's premier battery manufacturing facility. The Gigafactory will not only be physically larger than any other cell-packing plant on the planet, it'll produce more batteries than the entire industry did back in 2013. That's a lot of batteries, enough to meet Tesla's 500,000-per-year manufacturing goals -- and potentially even more. When completed, the factory will cover five million square feet of the desert floor just outside of Reno, Nevada. Right now, the uncompleted but already-operational factory sits on 800,000 square feet. Over the next four years the building will grow and grow again, swelling to its full size while production dials up simultaneously. The roof will be covered in solar panels, with the goal of producing enough electricity to power the entire thing. Tesla is already assembling Powerwall units here, but the first Model 3 battery packs are expected to roll off the line by the middle of next year. From there, Tesla will have to scale quickly to meet the company's Model 3 production goals for 2018. And, once the company does, the cost savings will begin. The "Tesla Gigafactory Tour" video can also be viewed on YouTube via Roadshow.
It makes me feel like in a mix of Blade Runner and Total Recall.
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
The roof will be covered in solar panels, with the goal of producing enough electricity to power the entire thing.
Solar panels are nice, but how will they store the power for when the sun don't shine?
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Well, the "basket" is the Nevada desert, which is probably one of the most stable environments in the world. Certainly safe enough to store nuclear waste for centuries.
I think a big battery factory will be fine for the few decades it exists.
It's still there in 2851.
... factory sits on 800,000 square feet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
"He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
The location is fine, though I think the main reason for choosing Nevada was Tax avoidance.
I just can't see why it all needs to be in the one location. Maybe that too comes down to accounting reasons - they can negotiate better taxpayer subsidies if its one big factory.
(And I apologise to anyone offended by my penis metaphor for a vanity project.)
Just 30 minutes ago, Elon was speaking at the opening party and said that long term there would be a gigafactory of this scale on every continent, mentioning Europe and Asia (specifically China) by name as the planned locations for the next factories.
- Chuq
A joint effort between Drumpf and Panadrumpf, the Gigadrumpf is a $5 billion project that will create the world's premier drumpf manufacturing facility. The Gigadrumpf will not only be physically larger than any other drumpf-packing plant on the planet, it'll produce more drumpfs than the entire industry did back in 2013. That's a lot of drumpfs, enough to meet Drumpf's 500,000-per-year manufacturing goals -- and potentially even more. When completed, the factory will cover five million square feet of the desert floor just outside of Reno, Nevada. Right now, the uncompleted but already-operational factory sits on 800,000 square feet. Over the next four years the building will grow and grow again, swelling to its full size while production dials up simultaneously. The roof will be covered in drumpf panels, with the goal of producing enough drumpficity to power the entire thing. Drumpf is already assembling Powerdrumpf units here, but the first Drumpf 3 drumpf packs are expected to roll off the line by the middle of next year. From there, Drumpf will have to scale quickly to meet the company's Drumpf 3 production goals for 2018. And, once the company does, the cost savings will begin.
he wants economy of scale, and vertical integration. And no warehouse taxes in NV...
The location is fine, though I think the main reason for choosing Nevada was Tax avoidance.
I just can't see why it all needs to be in the one location. Maybe that too comes down to accounting reasons - they can negotiate better taxpayer subsidies if its one big factory.
(And I apologise to anyone offended by my penis metaphor for a vanity project.)
largest lithium mine in USA is half an hour away...think on it a bit
Coal-fired power stations are sometimes built near the mines, and sometimes on the other side of the world.
Lithium ore is worth a hundred times as much as coal per tonne, so freight costs for extra distance is not a big deal.
Where are the ore refineries? (not that it matters much)
The lifetime environmental impact of lithium storage technology is less than that of alternatives. Our usage of lead-acid batteries is more toxic and we have a tremendous number of those being discarded each day, without even accounting for the impacts of fossil fuels involved in power generation and transport.
The fact that Musk has just sunk a bajillion dollars into manufacturing lithium cells suggests there isn't going to be anything significantly better coming our way any time soon. Prepare for 2 decades if incremental improvements
Panasonic are building this thing with Tesla, to produce Panasonic batteries. It's likely they will build other plants, and LG have already started on their own.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I don't really understand how this is the first battery factory in the world? I've visited a large battery factory in the 80's of previous century and I've worked there as a student in the nineties when I was studying in the university in the nearby city.
... The factory is build in the 1050's style. And it has the typical modernist look, although it also looks kind of dated with this 50's style. Inside old and new style are fighting each other and you really see it's an old factory. Typical for factories that had a steady growth I guess.
I'm pretty sure that this 5 billion costing, new project is a lot larger than the battery factory I worked at. And I'm also pretty sure that the new kinds of batteries are a lot better then those that were produced in the battery factory I mentioned, but that also has to do with "Law of the handicap of a head start".
The battery factory I worked at started in the 19th century as some kind of personal project in the stables of an engineer. A person who was among the first to see the future in battery cells to power self driving vehicles. This factory is still an artifact of the 1950's when Europe had to be rebuild and was for a long time the biggest supplier of battery cells for electric vehicles. Because the 1950's was the era of gasoline powered cars, those battery cells were only sold to vehicles for other industries, like fork lifts, trams, trains, sub marines, delivery vans,
But still at its height it produced 80% of the world wide production of battery cells. This makes this old factory, relatively the former biggest battery factory in the world, since Tesla's battery factory probably will never reach a 80% market penetration.
Another thing is that the factory I'm talking about grew organically. It grew according to the demand. And its mother company is now building yet another factory because of the growing demand for battery cells since the electrical car hype. Tesla just builds a 5 billion costing factory to produce the batteries for 500,000 cars a year. But until now they only sell 50,000 cars a year. So lets see who is the 'best battery cell factory'. Is it the one that started in a horse stable and exists 142 years and has been steadily growing. Or is it the one that immediately becomes the biggest factory in the world thanks to 'free money' without even having customers to cell the batteries it produces a 20% production capacity?
Are there sound technical reasons for this concentration,
Automation. If you are making one an hour, and you need one last screw at the top is cheaper to hire a person to put it in. If you are making 1000 an hour you can afford to design, build and program a robot that adds said screw.
In what third world country do you live that lead batteries are not collected and recycled by law?
Somalia?
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
OK, but what's the point of building one in Antarctica?
Ok, I'll think on it a bit - will the factory take in raw, unprocessed lithium or will it go to a refining plant to prepare the lithium for manufacture?
With the mine 30 minutes away or 8 hours away, what is the difference? the lithium still needs to be loaded on to a truck at the mine and then unloaded at the factory - the only difference is the extended travel time, which is really quite cheap.
Ken
Once all the ice melts, I think it will become a highly sought-out retirement destination - and retirees drive a lot of golf carts, which could be powered by Panasonic batteries.
Ken
Your ignorance is showing. Lead-acid batteries are recycled, with recyclers typically paying a decent price for the 'dead' battery. BTW, it is also illegal to 'discard' lead-acid batteries - why not take a field trip down to your local auto repair shop and ask them how they discard lead-acid batteries?
Ken
I rarely watch video links, but as a Tesla investor, I thought I should. And that video was not a look inside the Gigafactory. That video was a look at the outside of the Gigafactory, plus a few seconds of the Panasonic CEO (chairman?/spokesman?) being funny. And Elon Musk saying the final production capacity may be three times higher than originally designed.
Mr. Musk likes to show off his factories to the world, for one reason or another. It appears that Panasonic believes in keeping trade secrets secret, and is getting their way on this joint venture. The only thing on display besides the outside of the factory and a Model 3 was a model of a section of the factory with various industrial robot models scattered through it. Probably irrelevant to real production, if not actively misleading. It looked maybe like where battery packs could be assembled. Anything involving cell assembly is being kept quite tightly under wraps.
Aren't we fortunate that we have our close Japanese allies available to teach US businesses how to build a highly efficient, high technology factory. (Anybody who lived through the 80s should have boggled at that statement, but here we are.)
Trump's wall will put an end to all of that.
I'm listening, go on...
Sounds kinda nice.
Ok, I'll think on it a bit - will the factory take in raw, unprocessed lithium or will it go to a refining plant to prepare the lithium for manufacture?
Old car factories would take in raw material from one side, and cars rolled out the other side. Seems Tesla may be going back to that. I recently read that Hyundai smelts its own steel. Takes in raw materials, and outputs cars. No reason Tesla wouldn't process the ore themselves, if it looks like it'll save money or improve quality.
Learn to love Alaska
Cheaper cooling requirements.
- Chuq